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Siya Kolisi fires back at critics of future teammate Owen Farrell

Siya Kolisi of South Africa and Owen Farrell of England chat following the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between England and South Africa at Stade de France on October 21, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Julian Finney - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)

South Africa captain Siya Kolisi has leapt to the defence of his future Racing 92 teammate Owen Farrell in the wake of criticism he has received before and after his move to the Top 14 was announced.

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Prior to the announcement last week of his move to Racing at the end of the season, the 112-cap former England captain had already announced that he would be taking a break from Test rugby for his own mental well being.

The decision came after a World Cup where the England great was staggeringly booed by his own fans. Once his departure from Saracens had been announced, the fly-half was then met by more jibes that he was turning his back on England.

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But Kolisi has praised Farrell for making this decision and “choosing himself”, saying he has more to think about that just rugby.

As a guest on The Big Jim Show on RugbyPass TV recently, the double World Cup winning captain said how respectful of Farrell he is for making his decision.

“For Owen, I really don’t understand, he’s one of the greatest players to come out of England,” the Racing flanker said.

“People must know we’re also human beings. We have feelings, this stuff does hurt us. Saying something hurtful to someone, it’s not nice, and when it goes on and on and on people struggle and they can’t take it.

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“I’m so respectful towards him in choosing himself. We think rugby is your life – no, you’ve got kids, you’ve got a wife, you still have to be ok and be present and be mentally able because those are the people who suffer the most, your loved ones.

“He’s realised something’s got to give. He’s got to look after himself and that was his way of saying ‘ok, I’ve still got to be fine after this.'”

The 32-year-old is certainly relishing playing alongside Farrell after years of being adversaries, and explained how much he likes the Englishman. Farrell does not necessarily have a style that ingratiates himself with opposing fans, but Kolisi said that he loves having teammates like him.

“I love Owen, I really like him,” he said.

“I don’t understand why people don’t like him, I just think he’s f***ing competitive which is what you want.

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“He’s really a good leader, I think he’s very competitive and he’s just misunderstood.”

“There’s a lot of different ones. Like Dan Biggar, people always complain about him, but I don’t understand it. If you lose and you don’t look like you’ve tried hard enough, it’s a problem.

“He’s pushing his teammates, who have no problem with it. My teammates, the way they speak to me on the field when we played during the World Cup – like Bongi [Mbonambi] would tell me straight because he’s in charge of physicality.

“We’re in the midst of battle.”

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1 Comment
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Bob Marler 294 days ago

Siya. What a legend.

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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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